Family of 6 left homeless by Milford fire

MILFORD 
A family of six, including four children, was displaced in an early morning three-alarm fire on Dominick Street that destroyed the home, caused heat damage to seven others and totaled two cars.

Fire Lt. Patrick D. Salmon said that when firefighters arrived around 4 a.m., the two-story, single-family, wooden 1900s home at 13 Dominick St. was engulfed in flames. Around 10 minutes later, he said, the building collapsed.

The family was not home at the time and no firefighters were injured, he said.

“The house was fully involved when we arrived and collapsed 10 minutes later,” Lt. Salmon said. “Once it collapsed, we had it under control in half an hour.”

Firefighters continued wetting down the pile of debris to make sure all hot spots were extinguished, he said, and left the site around noon.

Seven other homes in the densely populated area sustained heat damage to their siding and garages, he said, but the damage was contained to the exterior of the homes, and the families were not displaced.

The intense heat also totaled two cars and damaged a third, he said.

The American Red Cross provided the family with children elementary-age to teenage children, with vouchers for clothes and food and provided assistance to 45 firefighters at a canteen it set up.

The family, the Red Cross said, will stay with relatives in the area.

Two of the family's pets died in the fire, but the family had one with them that is safe, the Red Cross said.